A group of Police Academy graduates are sent to train a group of newly recruited civilian officers. The original Police Academy cast reprise their roles in the film. Capt. Harris, not seen since the first installment, returns as the film's nemesis. In Police Academy 2 and 3, Capt./Commandant Mauser (played by Art Metrano) filled that role, but Metrano asked to be replaced for the remainder of the series after filming number 3. This was the last Police Academy film to feature Steve Guttenberg as Carey Mahoney. This film also stars a young David Spade in his feature film debut, as well as featuring a brief appearance from pro skateboarder Tony Hawk as Spade's double in a skateboarding scene.[2] Despite the commercial success, the sequel was panned by film critics.
Plot
Commandant Eric Lassard decides the police force is overworked and understaffed, so he comes up with the idea of recruiting civilian volunteers to work side by side with his officers in a program called "Citizens On Patrol" (COP).
Carey Mahoney and his friends Moses Hightower, Larvell Jones, Eugene Tackleberry, Zed, Sweetchuck, Laverne Hooks, and Debbie Callahan are in charge of training the civilians. The civilians include the enormous Tommy "House" Conklin (who Hightower used to babysit), gung-ho senior citizen Lois Feldman, Tackleberry's own father-in-law, and skateboarding delinquents Kyle and Arnie. The latter pair were caught by Capt. Harris, and the judge was about to throw the book at them until Mahoney speaks to the judge to let Arnie and Kyle join the COP program as alternative punishment. The judge agrees, and the boys are joined by their attorney, Butterworth.
Believing "the concept of citizens doing police work is asinine", Harris is determined to see the COP program fail and take over Lassard's job at the academy. When Lassard leaves on an overseas conference, Harris, and his right-hand man Lt. Proctor, are put in charge of the academy and Harris immediately plots to make the COP volunteers quit and leave police work to officers.
The volunteers, however, do well in their training. Mrs. Feldman excels in firing Tackleberry's .44 Magnum, and they bond amicably (she reminds him of his mother). In training in water safety and drowning victim rescue, Zed rescues a cadet and gains a love interest, a reporter/photographer Laura, who has come to view Lassard's COP program and becomes attracted to Zed. Unfortunately, Harris ruins the moment, insulting them both and inspiring Zed to replace Harris' deodorant with mace, which burns his armpits. Despite pranks pulled on him during training, Harris is still determined to make the Citizens on Patrol program fail.
Jones learns that volunteers House, Kyle, and Arnie feel ready to go out and arrest criminals, so he, Mahoney, Hightower, and Tackleberry prank the boys, locking them in a prisoner transport van with Hightower, who is posing as a Voodoo practitioner who reanimates his "dead" brother (Tackleberry), as a Jason Voorhees-esque maniac with a chainsaw to make them take training more seriously. Later, after Captain Harris yells at Zed again, calling him a disgrace, Laura comforts him, saying she thinks he is perfect.
After COP volunteers accidentally foil an undercover police sting, the program is suspended, much to Harris' delight. Mahoney believes he did it on purpose to shut down the COP program, paying him back by putting superglue on the mouthpiece of Harris' bullhorn, semi-permanently sticking the mouth guard to its rims. Sometime later, Harris gives some prominent citizens a tour of his precinct when Proctor is tricked into releasing every inmate at the precinct 19 jail, including a team of ninjas, and special guest Randall "Tex" Cobb. After the criminals imprison Harris and his guests, they escape into the street, only to run into Mrs. Feldman, who immediately informs the Lassard academy.
When Lassard's officers hear of the jailbreak, COP volunteers are dispatched with the regular officers to catch the escaped felons. After stopping a robbery, a ship hijacking and a high-speed air balloon chase, the dirtbags are all recaptured. Meanwhile, House, Kyle, Arnie, and Butterworth save Harris and Proctor from drowning in the river after the latters' attempt (and failure) to participate in the chase, and Zed impresses his girlfriend Laura by saving Sweetchuck's life after they both fall out of a plane in mid-air. Several of the police chiefs who witness Lassard's program in action congratulate and compliment him on the program and his officers, much to Harris' dismay.
The film debuted at number one in the United States weekend box office[3] and would go on to gross a total of $28,061,343.[4] It grossed $76,819,000 worldwide.[1]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 0% of 20 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 2.6/10.The website's consensus reads: "Utterly, completely, thoroughly and astonishingly unfunny, Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol sends a once-innocuous franchise plummeting to agonizing new depths."[5]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 26 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.[6] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B−.[7]
Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote: "The Police Academy series seems to shoot for an ever younger crowd. The optimum viewer for Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol would be a 10-year-old boy. Even better, it would be a whole pack of them. That's not to say the film isn't funny; it means only that the sense of humor being addressed is very specific. Stay away if drawing room farce is what you're after."[8]
Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "What’s so amazing about the Police Academy movies is that they keep being made even though they stopped being funny after the hilarious original. We’re now up to No. 4, and the most you can say for it is that it is the teeniest bit better, not quite so crass as the last two. [...] There might have been some comic possibilities in this, but writer Gene Quintano strays widely from the premise to toss out, hit-and-miss fashion, a series of pranks involving much slapstick humor and culminating in some aerial tomfoolery involving hot-air balloons and a pair of ancient biplanes. Unfortunately, the film never takes flight itself."[9]
Timothy James Kazurinsky is an American actor and screenwriter best known as a cast member and writer on Saturday Night Live and for his role as Carl Sweetchuck in the Police Academy films.
The Police Academy franchise consists of comedies including seven theatrical films and two spin-off television shows. Police Academy (1984), followed a premise where a new mayor had announced a policy requiring the police department to accept all willing recruits. The movie followed a group of misfit recruits in their attempts to prove themselves capable of being police officers, and succeeding both in spite of and because of their eccentricities. The main character in the first four films, Carey Mahoney, is a repeat offender forced to join the police academy as punishment. The seventh and to-date last installment, Mission to Moscow, was released in 1994. In September 2018, Guttenberg announced that a new Police Academy movie was in development after spending years in development hell.
Commandant Eric Lassard is a fictional character in the 1984 film Police Academy, as well as its six sequels. He was portrayed by George Gaynes.
G. W. Bailey is an American actor. Although he has appeared in many dramatic roles, he may be best remembered for his "crusty" comedic characters such as Staff Sergeant Luther Rizzo in M*A*S*H ; Lieutenant/Captain Thaddeus Harris in the Police Academy films (1984–1994), and Captain Felix Maxwell in Mannequin (1987). He played the role of Detective Lieutenant Louie Provenza on TNT's television crime drama The Closer, and its spinoff series Major Crimes, from 2005 to 2018.
Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment is a 1985 American comedy film directed by Jerry Paris. It is the second installment in the Police Academy franchise and the sequel to Police Academy.
Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach is a 1988 American comedy film directed by Alan Myerson. It is the fifth installment in the Police Academy franchise, released on March 18, 1988. The film was given a PG rating for language and ribald humor.
The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) is the municipal law enforcement agency of the City and County of San Francisco, as well as the San Francisco International Airport in San Mateo County. In 2000, the SFPD was the 11th largest police department in the United States.
The Rampart Division of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) serves communities to the west of Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) including Silver Lake, Echo Park, Pico-Union and Westlake, all together designated as the Rampart patrol area. Its name is derived from Rampart Boulevard, one of the principal thoroughfares in its patrol area. The original station opened in 1966, located at 2710 West Temple Street. In 2008, the staff moved southeast to a newer facility located at 1401 West 6th Street. With 164,961 residents occupying a 5.4-square-mile (14 km2) area, Rampart is one of Los Angeles's most densely populated communities.
Police Academy 3: Back in Training is a 1986 American comedy film directed by Jerry Paris. It is the third installment of the Police Academy franchise and the sequel to Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment.
Police Academy is a 1984 American comedy film directed by Hugh Wilson in his directorial debut, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Its storyline follows a new recruitment policy for an unnamed city's police academy to take in any recruit who wishes to apply and study to become a police officer. The film stars Steve Guttenberg, Kim Cattrall, and G. W. Bailey.
Police Academy 6: City Under Siege is a 1989 American comedy crime film starring Bubba Smith, David Graf and Michael Winslow. It was directed by Peter Bonerz and written by Stephen Curwick, based on characters created by Neal Israel and Pat Proft. The film was given a PG rating for violence and language. This was the fifth and last Police Academy sequel to be released in the year immediately following the previous installment of the series. It would take five years until the release of the following film, Police Academy: Mission to Moscow. Police Academy 6: City Under Siege was also the last film in the series to feature Bubba Smith, Marion Ramsey, Bruce Mahler, Lance Kinsey and George R. Robertson as Hightower, Hooks, Fackler, Proctor and Commissioner Hurst respectively.
Police Academy: Mission to Moscow is a 1994 American action comedy film starring George Gaynes, Michael Winslow, David Graf, and Claire Forlani. It is the seventh and final installment in the Police Academy franchise to date, and sequel to Police Academy 6: City Under Siege. The film was directed by Alan Metter and written by Randolph Davis and Michele S. Chodos. George Gaynes, Michael Winslow and David Graf were the only three cast members to appear in all seven films.
Police Academy Stunt Show or Loca Academia de Policía is a slapstick comedy stunt show located at Parque Warner Madrid. Formerly, the show was also at Warner Bros. Movie World (1991–2008), Six Flags Magic Mountain (1994), and Warner Bros. Movie World Germany (1996–2004).
Edgar Dearing was an American actor who became heavily type cast as a motorcycle cop in Hollywood films.
Auxiliary constables or reserve constables are unpaid citizens in Canada who volunteer their time and skills to a police force. They are uniformed, unarmed members who perform a similar role to their UK counterparts in the Special Constabulary. Their main function is to supplement the police force with additional manpower, with duties varying by appointment, geographical location and the needs of the specific detachment/department.
Police Academy is a 1988 animated television series based on the Police Academy series of films. The show was produced by Ruby-Spears Enterprises for Warner Bros. Television. It aired weekdays and lasted two seasons for a total of 65 episodes.
Police Academy: The Series is a sitcom series that was a spin-off from the Police Academy series of films. Michael Winslow was the only actor from the Police Academy films to have a recurring role on the show, although several of the film's cast made occasional guest appearances. The series was written by Paul Maslansky and produced by James Margellos and Gary M. Goodman and aired in syndication from September 27, 1997, until May 23, 1998.
Michal Jagelka is a Czech actor and voice actor, known for dubbing Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Orlando Bloom and Bradley Cooper.
Toby Proctor is a Canadian voice, film and television actor. He voiced Darien/Tuxedo Mask in the English dub of the Sailor Moon anime in 54 episodes of the first two series. His other roles include Alex Flash Gordon in Flash Gordon and Copycat Ken in Ranma ½.
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